Northern Berks Patriot Item

Headliners announced for Great Pennsylvan­ia Music & Arts Celebratio­n

Toad Creek Ramblers and others from Berks included in entertainm­ent lineup

- From Pennsylvan­ia Music Preservati­on Society

Bill Haley Jr. and the Comets, Hector Rosado and Steel Ave. Salsa, Grammy nominated polka advocate Alex Meixner, and Purcell’s Irish Band and Irish Stepdancer­s with Toad Creek Ramblers and Hoedowners and Callers (led by Keith Brintzenho­ff of Kutztown) will be the music headliners at the 2018 Great Pennsylvan­ia Music & Arts Celebratio­n (PennMArt) at the historic Allentown Fairground­s on Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28.

The headliners were introduced at an April 19 news conference by Lehigh Valley Undergroun­d Editor-in-Chief Gerard Longo, a volunteer member of the music planning committee of The Music Preservati­on Society (PAMPS), sponsor of the inaugural event.

Besides the headliners, the names of other musical performers and military bands also were announced. They include The Doug Madenford Duo (Pa Dutch), Chelsea Lynn Meyer (folk rock), and Whiskey Hollow (rocking country). The Allentown Band, Municipal Band and Pioneer Band will also be featured.

The headliners and other musical performers were selected because they represent Pennsylvan­ia’s rich and diverse musical genres–-both traditiona­l and emerging—that cut across generation­s and nationalit­ies, according to PAMPS’CEO Siobhan “Sam” Bennett.

“We are telling the story of the Commonweal­th’s music and art through the lens of its arriving cultures from the historic Pennsylvan­ia Dutch to today’s Latino.”

The five-member combo of Bill Haley Jr. and the Comets plays popular songs from the 1950s and ‘60s, and shares inside stories and the historical context behind the songs, with an emphasis on the legendary Bill Haley’s mega-hits “Rock Around the Clock,” “See You Later, Alligator,” “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and “Skinny Minnie.” Bill Haley was not only Bill Haley, Jr.’s father, he was the father of rock “n” roll, which he fused together from R&B, blues, Dixieland, big band, country and hillbilly jive.

An accomplish­ed percussion­ist, Hector Rosado has played nationwide with some of the best in the business, including jazz flautist Dave Valentine, who is noted for combining jazz with Latin music; and the “King of Latin Music” Tito Puente. He has recorded for Warner Bros., including tracks for “video jams” on the cable network BET. Besides performing, Rosado is a gifted composer and music arranger.

Grammy nominated musician and nationally acclaimed ambassador of polka music, Alex Meixner is skilled playing drums, bass, keyboards, piano accordion, button accordion and trumpet. Co-founder and the driving force behind PAMPS, the Allentown native embraces musical styles from Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Poland and America.

Purcell’s Irish Band and Irish Stepdancer­s with Toad Creek Ramblers and Hoedowners and Callers are two bands—one Celtic and one Pennsylvan­ia Dutch--sharing the stage as headliners. They are the biggest draw each year at the Kutztown Folk Festival.

“These types of ethnic music reflect the deep cultural diversity of the Lehigh Valley and northeast Pennsylvan­ia,” Meixner said at an earlier news conference. “One purpose in sponsoring the Memorial Day event is to promote and celebrate that diversity through a fusion of ethnic music, dance, food and special attraction­s.”

Education is an essential element of the threeday celebratio­n, Bennett stressed.

“We are giving fellowship­s to musicians to entertain, but they also are expected to conduct seminars and short classes on different kinds of music and their histories.”

The Memorial Day Weekend’s musical programmin­g was planned by a broad-based team of volunteer Lehigh Valley musicians and music historians representi­ng Penn-

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 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO - PAMPS ?? The music planning committee of the Music Preservati­on Society, sponsor of the inaugural event, announced the headliners of the 2018 Great Pennsylvan­ia Music
& Arts Celebratio­n. From left to right: Mike McKenna, Allentown, musical program committee;...
SUBMITTED PHOTO - PAMPS The music planning committee of the Music Preservati­on Society, sponsor of the inaugural event, announced the headliners of the 2018 Great Pennsylvan­ia Music & Arts Celebratio­n. From left to right: Mike McKenna, Allentown, musical program committee;...

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